It wasn't enough for us to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. Now our country is dangerously close to enacting the American Servicemen's Protection Act, a chilling bit of legislation originally introduced by everyone's favorite Senator, Jesse Helms.

Under this Bill the US president would be authorized to use "all means necessary" to free US soldiers or officials detained or imprisoned by the court. According to this morning's NPR Morning Edition, the bill has passed both the House and Senate (albeit as a rider on a larger bill), and is now in conference committee.

Meanwhile, concerned citizens and politicians of the Netherlands are dubbing it the Hague Invasion Act, and not without cause. "All means necessary" is pretty chilling.

The ASPA has been knocking around since late 2001, and looked virtually dead when a streamlined version that primarily aimed to penalize nations that joined the ICC was signed by President Bush. Ironically, it is a Senate amendment opening the possibility of U.S. cooperation with the court that has brought the ASPA (and it's "Hague Invasion" provision) back to conference committee and the possibility of reaching Bush's desk.

The U.S. response to the outcry in the Netherlands? "Obviously, we cannot envisage circumstances under which the United States would need to resort to military action against the Netherlands or another ally."

Well, if we can't imagine it, why are we authorizing it?

If you'd like to take action, visit the Campaign to End Genocide for information on making activist contacts with your elected officials.

Republican U.S. Representative Sam Graves has granted $273,000 to Blue Springs, outside Kansas City MO, "to identify Goth culture leaders that are preying on our kids." Mind you, this is not an out-of-pocket grant, this is Congressionally-approved funding.

This article gives the details, and an interesting look at the community and the goths in it to establish context.

It looks like a case of good motivations turned bad by stereotypes. Drug abuse, self abuse, and depression in teens are all worthy issues to address, but linking them to a particular subculture has led to a great deal of negative publicity and a case of "forest for the trees" mentality about these problems in the community.

"Goth leaders preying on our kids." As if.

(Story first spotted over at Rebecca's Pocket.)

"When they finally / put you in the ground / I'll stand on your grave / and tramp the dirt down" -- Elvis Costello

The CIPA -- the Child Internet Protection Act -- is dead. At least for now, anyway. Further appeals may push it up to the Supreme Court.

The collection of confusingly-acronymed child/Internet laws has become bewilderingly vast, so let's review. The CIPA is, in my opinion, one of the most ridiculous and ill-advised of the lot. It would have made use of Internet-filtering software compulsory in any library that accepts federal funding.

It's the rare library that can subsist without federal subsidies, so this would in effect have made Internet censorship mandatory in public libraries.

The limitations and failures of such filtering software have been widely demonstrated, most notably through demonstrations of their tendency to block safe sex information, breast cancer information, and other useful health information.

However, even smut has its place in a library. Erotic fiction and photography have entered the pantheon of legitimate scholarly research topics, and consequently, I would find even a filter that didn't block health information to be more restrictive than should be acceptable in institutions that are dedicated to collecting, archiving and organizing our culture. Our whole culture.

As recognized by the three-judge panel, there are other ways to manage children's access to the Internet, ways that do not consequently limit the availability of relevant information to adults.

So, dance on the grave of the CIPA! Tramp the dirt down!